It's not even noon on Wednesday and Lyndall Baker uncovered the identity of a burglary suspect, helped find family members of a potential homicide victim and located the vehicle used in a robbery. And he did all of it without leaving his desk.

He's not a police officer or an investigator. Baker's work is done behind the scenes, using two computer screens and a number of databases from the Houston Police Department headquarters downtown. He works almost as a shadow, alongside the men and women in blue, feeding them crucial information - anything from a murder suspect's rap sheet to whether a street corner they are approaching is known for drug activity.

Most importantly, he can do almost all of it before an officer even arrives to the scene of an emergency call.

Baker is one of 12 civilian criminal intelligence analysts and 22 officers who work in HPD's Real Time Crime Center, a 24/7 centralized technology center where analysts offer on-the-spot information to help find suspects and vehicles. They relay just about any kind of useful data that might be important to officers on the streets.

HPD receives about a million calls for services annually, and the center not only helps quickly solve police cases, but also aids in increasing officer safety. Often in a matter of minutes, analysts can tell officers if they've received similar reports from a location they are responding to and if they should be looking out for anyone who has a violent criminal history.

"It's like a one-stop shop," said Lt. Terry Horton, who oversees daily operations of the Real Time Crime Center. "It's like the encyclopedia of HPD."

On a computer screen, analysts can view every emergency call that comes in throughout the day all over the city. They can then take the minimal information officers responding to calls receive from dispatchers - such as a license plate number or an address - to produce a wealth of helpful information.

Thief's vehicle traced

On Wednesday morning, officers in northeast Houston were chasing a burglar, accused of stealing an air conditioning unit. In a matter of three minutes, Baker used a few databases to trace the thief's vehicle as one that had made 47 stops at a local scrap metal yard in about the last two months. Then, through that information, he determined a possible suspect identification and quickly relayed the information to the officers.

Baker did all that with only a license plate number of the burglar's vehicle and knowing that the stolen AC was most likely being sold for its copper parts.

Officers caught the suspect during the chase. "But if they hadn't, they could have used that info to find him," Baker said.

The crime center, which opened in 2008, also helps investigators who have run out of leads on a case. Later that morning, Baker even used a partial licence plate number to track down two robbery suspects accused of a crime in July. He traced the vehicle to a location only four miles from where the robbery occurred.

"It's like working on a puzzle," he said. "And at the end of the day, you put together that puzzle."

A useful perspective

HPD officers at the center offer a law enforcement perspective on what information might be the most useful at a crime scene or during an emergency call. Officer Sarah Wyatt spent 14 years as a patrol officer before coming to work in the center a month ago.

"It helps because I can visualize what that officer is thinking when he's out to that call," she said.

Wyatt recalled an emergency call on Tuesday about a mentally ill person. By looking at the location history, Wyatt discovered that there had been 13 calls from the same address in the last year and half. She also found out that the caller had threatened suicide and was known to be in possession of assault weapons.

One of the crime center's most important functions is to keep officers better prepared for every situation they are walking into.

"It's all about our safety," Wyatt said. "The goal of every shift is to be able to go home."

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